Easily Create and Even Edit PDF Files

Though Microsoft would probably wish that things were different, these days we come across the ubiquitous PDF almost constantly. The wonderful thing about the PDF is that just about anyone can read it, which isn’t always the case with documents created in a word processor. While a lot of people have Microsoft Word, not everyone does, and not everyone that does has the same version.

Creating PDF files can get expensive if you choose to do so with products from Adobe, howver, which means that getting documents that everyone can read isn’t alway cheap. Fortunately, there is a solution. Using one piece of software, you can easily create PDF files from any application, and using another application, you can even edit them as well – without a huge investment!

PDFRedirect from EXP Systems installs a new printer on your PC, which allows you to easily create PDF documents from any application. Rather than sending your document to a real printer, you just send it to PDF Redirect. Then you can save it to a PDF file. There is a freeware version which works great, and allows you to create standard PDF files, preview, merge and even encrypt your files.

But for just $19.99, you can get the Pro version, which allows the ability to optimize your files for web viewing, include hyperlinks, install “batch” printers for mass conversion, optimize font settings, include email and FTP support, add stamps to your files, include attachments, lock and unlock your files, manipulate files, use VBA and extract pages. It’s well worth the price.

For many, just being able to create a PDF is all that you will ever need, and for less than $20 – and in fact, for free in some cases – it’s a great product. But for some, you may actually need to edit the PDF file. You can try to edit the PDF with the GIMP. I’ve had some luck with this, but only with single-page documents, and I’ve also had some issues with particular files. I don’t know exactly why, but sometimes it just doesn’t work, so I needed to find another solution.

Enter PDF Editor. This utility simply loads up your PDF and allows you to edit it – I’ve had no problem with any file I’ve loaded into it, including ones with multiple pages. You can insert and remove text, even change the text that is there. It’s actually pretty amazing. With the “pro” version, you can even work with form fields! If you have a need to work with PDF content, I’d highly suggest it!